13.5.10

Critical Design - from the Critical Points Article in the FT

Go HERE to read a really interesting article from the FT about Critical Design - A term by Dunne and Raby (Authors of the book 'the Secret Life of Electronic Objects') See link to their site in 'GOTO' The image above is off their 'Huggable Mushroom Cloud' - furniture designed to help us deal with our anxiety about the potential of Nuclear War. A quote from the article: 'Critical design emerged as an idea about a decade ago and was named by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby as they attempted to use design to address aesthetics in what they called “a rapidly dematerialising, ubiquitous and intelligent environment”. The remarkable products they developed at the beginning included the Faraday Chair (which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection), a kind of sideboard that acts as a shield from the incessant communication with which we live as electronics begin to take over. The Faraday Chair becomes a refuge, a place to dream, like a child’s den constructed from chairs and blankets."